commission, i learned that the most effective policing is the policing where you have the police and the community working together. so you need training for the police officer who's already there. it is important to have police officers on the street and having that police presence, but at the same time, there has to be a connection between the police and the community. so i think we're on the same page. you have to make sure that you create an atmosphere where people feel safe, and i think that to feel safe they have to feel like they're in partnership. i really believe that when you are blessed with the opportunities that this country gives you, that you have an obligation to give back. i really believe in public service. i could be in the private sector and make a lot of money, but i believe that i have a duty to try to make things better for other people and to

pay back to a country that has given me so much. >> welcome to this tiny little balcony. i am the acting city administrator. thank you.

[applause] you may be wondering why someone who holds a job temporarily is co-hosting. i think is because i have announced by the lgbt community to hold this commission. [applause] i get the pleasure of meeting your here. we will move to the balcony. it will be much more professionally done than what i am doing. >> are we ready for the official flag raising? on behalf of the city, i have the distinct mayor as your plate -- mayor, and working with everyone here, and in celebration to let the world

know what is happening in san francisco again. that is the celebration of changing the world and our culture in san francisco. i am so thrilled to be able to do this. it is a week of celebration. thank you so much for being here. here is the flag. [applause] it usually takes two people. >> are you ok? >> yeah. >> all right. there you go.

[applause] >> welcome to city hall. i will be in see today for the formal raising of the plight -- pride flag over san francisco. that was exciting. [applause] i never know what to wear. today, i thought i was going to be of the building, look like the building. some say i look like the first lady. i am not sure what that meant. i will take that job because it is less responsibility and get to travel around. i love dressing up and coming to city hall knowing where part of the city just as we are apart of city hall. this is a great crowd today. i have seen great improvements. the flag this year is new and crisp. the crowd is beautiful. everybody is organized. some of you dressed up and some

of you did not. [laughter] that is okay. you are all welcome at city hall. before we do the formal program, i want to acknowledge that this is the same suit i wore years ago when nancy pelosi walked into the room and have the same suit on -- had the same suit on. i do not think she is wearing the same suit, but i am. [laughter] sandra, thank you for being here to represent her. [applause] this is a treacherous thing to do at city hall. it is full of protocol and eggshells. it is not easy to walk on egg shells with these issues. [laughter] i will try. if i make a mistake, forgive me. the most important thing is to wreck a bias -- recognize that we are represented by people who want to celebrate pride. to kick things off, i give you

the mayor of san francisco, mayor ed lee. [applause] >> thank you very much. happy pride month in san francisco. that is wonderful to hear. this is our city. this is our culture. this is the way we live. we want everybody to live in equity as well. thank you for being here. i want to welcome our supervisors who are joining me today. board president david chu is here. supervisor david campos, scott wiener, eric marr is here as well. have i missed any other supervisors? thank you, mark, for being here. i have great pride in

introducing this year's grand marshals. before i do that, i am looking forward to joining the parade this weekend. i am looking forward to representing the city in my very first time and perhaps the only time i am the mayor of city and county of san francisco. it is exciting. as we raise the flag, i want to let you know that as our joint -- i joined our acting city administrator, we have not advertise that. she has been such a great city administrator that you overlook her background work. she has been doing the job very competently as our real estate director and acting city administrator as well as being the deputy over those years. amy, thank you very much for fulfilling that role. we appreciate it. [applause] it goes to show if you look at talent, you can be from any

background and fulfill all of these jobs. it is wonderful to be part of san francisco and part of the government as well. i want to welcome up here the lifetime achievement grand marshal for this year, bishop yvette flunder. [applause] >then i want to call up the rest of the grand marshals. the national organizing grand marshals, the trevor project, please come on up, the whole project. ok, they are here in spirit. our local organizational grand marshals, the glbt historical

society and history museum, come on up. [applause] then we have our community grand marshals, dr. erin belkin, victoria korakowski, christiana remmington, therese terry st uart, dr. roland stringfellow. [applause]

grayland k. thornton. [applause] these are our grand marshals this year. congratulations to each of you. thank you for being part of our city's official pride month and parade. [applause] hold on. then i would like to note that we have special certificates of honor ofrom my office and the board of supervisors to present these proclamations to the very special lisa williams and executive brendan bian for this year's honors. [applause] congratulations.

we have certificates for each and everyone of you that are about to be passed out as well. once we do that, we can take bigger picture. -- we can take a group picture. we present to you all of the official grand marshals of this year's pride parade. thank you. [applause] thank you very much. [applause]

>> thank you, mayor lee. i did think i might make a surprise announcement that i am running for mayor of san francisco. but i reconsidered. i thought with 36 announced candidates, i did not need to muddy the race. we will cover the parade on live television. i will be a part of it. someone said it would be longer this year. they said all 36 candidates for mayor are in the parade. i said that would be a separate parade and longer than this one. there are 36 candidate. some are in the room today. i am just glad that i see passion for the city. support someone of your choice. it will not be me. i am not running. i am not. [laughter] please welcome the president of

the board of supervisors, mr. david chu. [applause] >> there are actually 37 candidate. you would make a great 38. let's go. who is ready for this weekend? are we already for this weekend? i want to tell you how proud i am a san francisco, and how proud i am of our tolerance, a diversity, shared san francisco values. i am so proud to represent the board of supervisors of harvey milk once served on. i am so proud to be part of the city that comes together all the time, but in particular comes together in the month of june to celebrate our specialness as a community. like many of you here, i did not grow up in san francisco. i grew up in another part of the

country that was not quite as tolerant or reverse. san francisco drew me as it your all of us because we live in a very special place. i want to say on behalf of the board of supervisors, we have a special responsibility and leadership role in the world. as we come together, we symbolize all of the space -- this faith we have inhumanity, civil rights, as a common family. -- we have the spacfaith in humanity, civil-rights, and as a common family. i want to congratulate our grand marshals not just for being lgbt leaders, but for representing what is truly the best of what it means to the sentences in -- a san franciscan.

i also have the pleasure to bring up one of my wonderful colleagues. if someone got to know in law school long ago. this person has been a tremendous leader in san francisco within the communities he has been so proud to represent. david campos, please join me. [applause] >> i am proud to be here today. it is a time to celebrate the diversity. it is not just tolerance. it is increasing the diversity. -- it is embracing diversity. we look across this beautiful building and see the statue of harvey milk. it is important to remember why people like harvey gave their lives. we have come a long way. but we still have some ways to go. it is not just that we have some

ways to go outside of san francisco. we still fighting for equality in san francisco -- california. we're fighting for equality at the federal level and across the country. even within san francisco and the lgbt committee, there are issues we need to address. we have high unemployment within our transgendered community. it is important to recommit ourselves to the struggle. the struggle continues. it is important that we do that throughout the year. i want to thank my colleagues on the board of supervisors. i want to thank the entire elected family of the city and county san francisco. i see the city attorney's office. i also want to thank neamayor lee. you have demonstrated you do

care about the entirety of san francisco and are committed to making sure the choices made in san francisco in the government reflect the values of san francisco. on behalf of the lgbt community, i want to thank you for being responsive to our needs. we continue to be committed to working with you. thank you very much for being here. happy pride, everyone. [applause] it is my honor to call upon my colleague from district 8. it was not planned that we would have three graduates of harvard law to speak in the event. it is my colleague from district 8. i am proud to be able to work with him on the board of supervisors. he is one of two lgbt members -- as one of two lgbt members on the board, it is important we work together. scott wiener.

>> i could tell you stories of them from law school, but i will not. it is great to work with david to fight for our community, hiv funding. supervisor campos and i were at a regional transportation meeting. a bunch of tea party people came out and told us we were working for the u.n. and were communists and all that. i thought for the millionth time much i love san francisco and could not wait to get back. [applause] i remember in the early 1990's shortly after i came out, marching in my first pride parade in philadelphia with my parents. fast forward almost 20 years, i think of how proud i am to represent district 8 on the board of supervisors and to be marching on sunday with my community representing district 8. have a wonderful pride weekend.

enjoy. [applause] >> some people six months ago said it would not happen. a friend of mine asked if there would be a parade this year. there is going to be a parade every year. how big an organized it will be is a credit to many people who came together this year as never before. they were led by the next persons to address you. [applause] >> thank you. my name is lisa williams and i am the chairman of the pride board. i am pleased to be here. [applause] i am very pleased to be here to

celebrate pride 2011. there were some challenges. folks like you step up. the board of directors stepped up. our staff stepped up. we're here today to pick up our celebration. i would also like to thank joa quin, paul, neighborhood services, the mayor's office and staff for supporting us from the beginning to the end. i also want to thank treasurer cisneros, supervisors campos, wiener, and all the others who called and asked what they could do for us. san francisco pride has had a strong relationship with the city. i also want to recognize former supervisor dufty who has been with us in the past and is currently with us now. [applause]

i would like to express my gratitude to our fellow board members. we have a lot of new board members. i am so proud of all of you. our treasurer, dale hemminger. joshua smith has been with us for years. the board secretary, our new board members. [applause] this year marks the 45th anniversary of san francisco pride. we continue to create diversity and march in the street parades. this year we will be focusing on our youth. pride is at the forefront of protecting the lgbt youth and fighting against bullying. our committee has continued to fight since last year. we had a big treat with don't ask, don't tell.

a federal judge overturned proposition 8. we continue to fight hiv and aids for our committee. the theme this year "in pride we trust," many ask how we could have that thing this year. it is in san francisco that we fight for equality, a diverse culture, we fight for liberty and freedom for everybody. it is fitting that the community, our leaders, that we can trust our city leaders to stand up with us and stand brown. i hope you will join us for the march and celebration. -- we can trust our city leaders to stand up with us and stand proud. i hope you will join us for the march and celebration. [applause] >> i have a particular role in being able to witness how much

work the board of directors has put into turning this organization around in a short amount of time. it is hard to see and does not make headlines when you meet every week from 7:00 p.m. until 2:00 a.m. and then again the next day. this board of directors has done that. they've worked tirelessly. lisa has led the board and brought the team together. i want to ask for a round of applause for the team that has made it what is this year. [applause] i know there is a lot to see this week. i am not the center of it all. i will be short.

thank you, mayor. we share one thing in common. we both have "interim" in our title. i am there with you. [laughter] i want to thank the board of supervisors as well. they've been tremendously helpful in some morsupporting te community. without further ado, donna sa shay. [applause] >> it is wonderful being the emcee. 20 years ago, i moved here. my first year was tough. i did not connect. a year into it, i made a couple of decisions. i cancel my subscription to "new york times."

i joined the san francisco gay men's chorus and started volunteering at an aids organization. those three things told me i was going to meet san francisco half way. now i stand at city hall with all of you. i have come a long way. it is a matter of me reaching out and the city reaching back. it is a two-way street. i love the city. i will love the music performed now by the san francisco gay men's chorus. [applause] ♪ ♪

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